


Codexes: Dragon Knights

by deathwailart



Series: Dragon Knights [OLD] [18]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Codex - Freeform, Gen, Griffins, High Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 15:09:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2155122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathwailart/pseuds/deathwailart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Codex entries for the Dragon Knights series</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Griffins

The griffin of Stjarnacado is a common sighting throughout colder regions such as the northern territories though some varieties have been noted as remaining in the south, west and east where they have adapted over the centuries.  The original range of the bird was restricted to Jormsen where they made nests in the mountains near the dragons and descended to feed but since the first contact with elves, they moved; the elves admired their grace and power and soon griffins were domesticated and kept as hunting companions and pets.  Adaptation to differing climates and habitats has since produced a vast range of colourations and patterns in the griffin.  Pictured above is the griffin of Moja, adapted to the heat of their lush jungles where it blends superbly with the dense roots of trees as it hunts.

The diet of the griffin is a carnivorous one - they possess keen vision and hearing and their feathers make barely a whisper when they fly - allowing them to catch their prey easily with their sharp talons.  They are able to run quickly too, swim and dig - they will eat fish, rabbits, small animals, lizards, amphibians and birds if they can and have been seen digging up rabbit warrens to get to the rabbits within. 

Griffins are large creatures; males are between 5-8 feet in length, females 4-6, they stand either 4 feet at the shoulder (males) or 3 feet (females.)  The wingspan is roughly around ten feet, regardless of sex.  Griffons will bond for life and should one die, the remaining partner will remain alone until the end of its life.  They lay a single egg due to the size of the egg and the intensive rearing the chick will need as it grows.  Due to this investment griffins rarely, if ever, lay eggs in consecutive years as it takes over a year to raise a chick to fledging.

As previously stated, griffins pair bond and will reaffirm that bond each year.  It begins with a gift of food from the male to the female, who after accepting it will reciprocate.  Then there is a great deal of preening followed by singing.  Each pair will create their own song (interestingly, each chick takes an element from the song of their parents to help create their own) that they sing to one another.  The mating flights of griffins are a popular spectacle as they make heart-stopping leaps and dives before they build their huge nests.  Griffins are seldom vicious towards humans, elves or dwarves unless they feel their mate, nest or chick is threatened.  They will make threat displays involving wing flapping and screeching before they attack.  
With the long lifespan (sixty years or more) they are understandably popular with elves and the royalty of Tishlen long ago adopted the griffin as their royal seal.  With enough patience and training, a griffin can be tamed and trained to accept riders and the elves have bolstered their armies, making them deadly in battle.

_A treatise on the avian fauna of Stjarnacado_


	2. Leaping Shrike

Not a large bird by any means, and theorised due to a similarity of appearance to be a relative of the griffin, the leaping shrike is only found in the north of Stjarnacado.  Close in size to a crow, it has four legs tipped with three forward facing toes and one backward to each ending in sharp claws.  The leaping shrike is a glossy dark blue in colour, almost black in places, the males boasting long grey tails and grey headplumes that are absent in the female.  There are indications that the size of headplume and tail will play a part in dominance and that females prefer long tails and large plumes although this is only one aspect of mating.

The shrike is an aggressive bird if territory is invaded and fights are common between males, females and pairs.  They have been seen to attack other wildlife that enters their home and threatens them though this is usually only during the nesting period or if there have been shrikes killed for their brilliant plumage.  Shrikes remember the faces of people who attack them and will mob them - some say hunters have been killed by shrikes mobbing them.

The breeding season for shrike is March where the males will display and fight with one another, sometimes to the death with the females watching.  The largest males will win and the largest males have the most brilliant plumage, the longest tails and the largest headplumes.  They are monogamous only for one breeding season where they will rear between four to six chicks.

Shrikes are carnivores, feeding on mice, rats, rabbits, voles, shrews, other birds and whatever else they can tackle.  Unlike most birds they hunt from the ground and leap (hence the name) onto their prey or leap from branches - males and females in the breeding season will work in pairs and will teach their young this way.  They store their prey on branches in a macabre fashion at the heart of their territory and guard their stores jealously.  In the cold of Jormsen, their prey stays fresh for a long time but shrikes hunt constantly, almost as if they enjoy it.

_A treatise on the avian fauna of Stjarnacado_


	3. Viridjur

Within the great forest of Borea, the land is very much alive.  Even the nymphs who have returned to the land and water can still be spoken to by their fellows in the strange language of the nymphs; through touch, through the babbling of a brook or the rustle of leaves in the wind the nymphs alone can understand.  Even those who do not survive the Purification will become the winds of Stjarnacado and can still be felt and heard.  A great many wild beasts call Borea home, some those native to Stjarnacado or the north as a whole, mundane some might say, common if they are being polite.

For within Borea are a great many animals that are as the nymphs are: made of plants or water, or connected to them in a far greater way.  Such is the case with the _Viridjur._   The viridjur is alike to the deer common to all of Stjarnacado though they favour the northern varities (thicker pelt, larger in size) more than their kin elsewhere.  The similarities can be difficult to notice though when one takes into account that the viridjur is very like the wood nymphs of Borea and beyond.  The body is viridian in colour though other varieties can be found and it will change with the season to camoflage it.  This is the least remarkable aspect of the viridjur.  What truly sets the viridjur apart is the fact that all of them have plants growing upon their backs much as the wood nymphs do across their whole bodies.  When lying down or standing still, one can pass by the viridjur without knowing.  In the spring and summer flowers will bloom with fresh life and often butterflies and birds will travel alongside the herds of viridjur.  The antlers of the male are not made of bone as normal deer but priceless wood that the nymphs gather and trade only with those who promises to respect it and shape it into something beautiful.

Though native to the deepest parts of the forest, these deer can be found in the forests of Jormsen as only a narrow path separates them.  They are considered more intelligent and less skittish than other deer, possessing someo fhe nymph magic and knowledge.  If approached quietly, with a gentle nature, then the viridjur are happy to be around people.  These deer are never to be hunted unless it is truly dire.

_Borea, Native Fauna, a Compendium_


End file.
